WHAT IS STORED AND IN STORE
FOR RESERVATION WATER
Projected demands on Flathead reservation water are pouring in faster than spring run-nof f. Interests ranging from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Dixon Agency housing development have placed dibs within the last few months on what little is left of the reservation's water supplies.
The Flathead Irrigation Pro-
ject, already the largest consumer of reservation Indian owned water, heads the list of agencies applying for more. FIP, which now uses someplace between 9 0 and 120 thousand acre feet per year, has designs on the remainder of the reservation's annual water supply. This means that nearly every drop of water rising from
the Missions, The Jocko, and the western boundary hills would be used by FIP before it could be used for anything else.
Most of the projects new demands came to light last fall when preliminary information from an engineering feasibility study became known. The study, by the Helena firm
of Morrison and Maierle, was to have been made available to the tribe by last November. However, no copy of the BIA funded report has yet been received at the Dixon Agency. Officials from the Montana State Department of Natural Resources were also unable to get a copy of the report in (More on page 8)
NEWSPAPER OF THE SALISH, PEND d ORIELLES AND KOOTENAI TRIBES OF THE FLATHEAD RESERVATION
COUNCIL BARGAINS FOR $137,000 PIPELINE LEASE
Dixon: The Tribal Council struck buried gold last month while negotiating the renewal of a lease on a gas pipeline.
The council and the Yellowstone Pipeline Company have been discussing a new pact on the 20-year old pipe easement for nearly a year. The company's attorney, Charles Lov-ell, Great Falls, had offered a package calliing for a 20-year renewable lease for an advance payment of $ 3 0,0 0 0. Earlier this year the council decided to reject the offer and propose instead a graduated annual settlement based on the distance the pipeline bisects the reservation.
The council's offer called for a base $ 1.0 0 per year for every rod (16.5 feet) of the line, for the first ten years. The bid called for $5.00 per rod for the first year of the contract and a renegotiation after ten years.
The company, during a meeting February 28, at first rejected the council's proposal
and repeated their $ 3 0,0 0 0 offer. But the council held firm, noting the April deadline for a new agreement. The company finally agreed to a settlement essentially the same as the council's proposal.
The new pact calls for a total payment of $ 12 7,0 0 0 to be paid in annual installments over the next 20 years. The.first payment, received during the meeting, was for $25,000. Annual payments for the first ten years will a-mount to $5 4 06 per year. In 1985 the easement will be renegotiated to adjust the annual payments to the 1975 dollar. That is, if the dollar declines in value over the next ten years, as it has in the past, the annual rental would be increased to comDensate for the difference. The new contract term will expire in April of 1995.
The Yellowstone pipeline enters the reservation near Rainbow Lake on the west (Pipeline-Cont. on page 2)
TWO LOGGING
UNITS SUSPENDED
Ronan: "Shoot or spend", that is the way Tribal Councilman Bob McCrea described the dilema of two large timber sales scheduled to begin this year. McCrea and six other councilmen voted to remove the two from the timber harvest schedule because both, it was felt, would adversely affect game ranges.
The two units scheduled for sale this year were the Irvine, in the north central part of the reservation, and the Revais, in the south-central area. The Irvine was originally scheduled for sale last year but was set back because of resistance to the project by the Kootenai community in Elmo and Dayton. The unit, which would have harvested 23.3 million board feet, is situated between the recently logged Deep and Garceau unit. Kootenai Tribal Councilman Pat Lefthand, had complained that the sale
(See Revais on page 3)
2 RONAN INDIANS ON BALLOT
Two Ronan Indian Education Committee members will be on the school board ballot when voters go to the polls April 1.
They are John "Chris" Lozeau and Frank Webster, both Tribal Members from Ronan. Lozeau is Chief Sanitarian for the Indian Health Service in St. Ignatius. He has two children in the Ronan school.
Webster is a rancher from south of Ronan. He has six children in the Ronan School system.
Char-Koosta will list all candidates to the 16 school board positions open in the eight reservation districts in the April 1 st issue.
Candidates for the school board must file before March 10 (Monday). Voting eligibility is the only requirement for school board candidacy ...that is 18 years old and a registered voter of the district for at least 30 days.